158 The American Naturalist. [February, 
New Central American Diplopods:'—A mong a lot of chilopods 
and diplopods that De. Filippo Silvestri describes as collected by Dr. 
Festa at Guayra, Darien and Cuenca he describes the new species Ar- 
chispirostreptus guayrensis; Plusioporus feste, Rhinocricus diversicauda, 
Oxypge varicolor, Ortomorpha feste, Aulocodesmus angustalus. 
The genera Oxypyge and Alocodesmus are new. The former approx- 
imates very closely to Rhinocricus, but differs from that in having the 
anal valves produced into long straight spines. The latter approaches 
Pocock’s Udontopeltis, but differs in the position of the pores, in the 
granular surface and the dorsal sulcus.—F. C. Kenyon. 
The development of the Wing-scales and their pigment in 
the Lepidoptera.‘—The scales of the wings of Lepidoptera are 
shown by Mr. A. G. Mayer to be developed from modified hypodermis 
cells like the hairs of other arthropods. The pigment comes from 
the so-called pupal blood by a series of chemical changes. The colors 
of the adults are not formed at once, but all pass through a series, 
the first of which is a dull ochre-yellow. He succeeded by chemical 
means in making pigments from the pupal-blood or hemolymph that 
were similar in color to the colors of the adult insects. These pigments 
react to chemical agents similarly to the pigments of the insects. 
Dull ochre-yellows and drabs such as one finds among the nocturnal 
Lepidoptera are the oldest, the bright yellows, reds, and greens of the 
diurnal forms are derived by a complicated chemical process brought 
about in the parts most exposed to the light—F. C. Kenyon. 
Rapid Growth of Apus.—F rom Spencer and Hall’s® account of 
the crustacea of central Australia we learn that not more than two 
weeks, and probably only a few days after the fall of rain, specimens 
of Apus were found measuring 23 to 3 inches in length. When it 18 
remembered that the eggs of Apus must pass through a stage of drought 
before they will develop, this enormously rapid growth is truly re 
markable. And the evidence of it is conclusive, if it be impossible for 
the mature or nearly mature form to pass through the period of drought, 
which certain forms, e. g., Astacopsis and Telphusa are known to be 
able to do.—F. C. K. 
Steindachneria.—In 1888 the name Steindachneria was twice used 
to designate new genera of fishes. 
Goode and Bean in Agassiz, Three Cruises of the Blake II, p- 26 
(April, 1888) used the name for a macrurid taken by the Albatross off 
*Bull. Mus. Zool. Anat. Comp. Univer. Torino., XI. 
* Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., XXIX, 209-36, 7 Pls. 
$ Horn Scientific Exp., 1896, pt. II. J. R. M. S., p. 410. 
